


Never Felt Like Such A Fool In Front Of Anyone

by summerstorm



Category: Glee, Sky High (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Cameo, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-04
Updated: 2009-12-04
Packaged: 2017-10-05 09:27:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerstorm/pseuds/summerstorm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set three years after WLR.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Felt Like Such A Fool In Front Of Anyone

The first semester of her senior year isn't over yet—not even off the record; she still has two finals left to sit—when Rachel goes on her first official solo mission. She should be studying, but it's been twenty-five days since she had that fight with Quinn about college applications, Quinn hasn't deigned to talk to her ever since, and Rachel needs an ego boost. It's perfectly reasonable for her to take a break from her First Aid: Heroes and Hospitals textbook for the night and fly down to Tennessee to keep a cabin in the woods from burning down to the ground and possibly causing a forest fire.

Even just saving the girl would have been worth it, too. Rachel flies her out of this small room just below the roof she's apparently turned into her personal songwriting area, and Rachel can really relate to the way she looks more relieved when Rachel comes out with her diaries and guitar than she did when Rachel saved her life.

"Thank you so much," she says, hugging the guitar case Rachel put the notebooks in tightly. "For—getting these out, and I guess for saving me, too. Though my parents are going to kill me now, so that's going to be worthless, but thanks. I'm Taylor," she adds, laughing nervously at her own rambling, and starts to shake Rachel's hand but ends up hugging her instead.

"Oh," Rachel says. "I'm, uh. Rachel. No superhero name yet, just Rachel." Yeah, that's not going to work. "Don't tell anyone that."

"Awesome," Taylor says, grinning.

Rachel beams, and leaves before the newscasters who just arrived at the scene have the time to corner her. It's an opportunity missed, but she needs to pick a superhero name before she's all over the news.

*

Her dads are opening the door before she even gets her keys out, and she walks right into a bear hug, which is kind of reassuring after speedflying such a long distance in such a limited amount of time.

"That's my—" her dad Steve starts saying before John shoots a look at him. "—_our_ little girl," he goes on. His hug wavers as he adds, "Keeping us up all night at seventeen, such a wonderful regression."

"Don't listen to him, he's just jealous," John says, and then whispers in her ear, "and go tell your girlfriend you're okay before she goes through the entire fridge, okay?"

Rachel is pretty confused, but doesn't say anything as she watches her dads make their way up the stairs.

"What are you doing here?" she asks when she sees Quinn sitting on a chair in the kitchen, wrapped in a blue blanket with flying cartoon birds on it Finn got her for last year's Hero-Sidekick Alliance Secret Santa. As a joke.

Quinn rolls her eyes. "I saw you on TV."

"Really?" Rachel says, wondering if it's up on the Internet yet. She hopes her dads had the presence of mind to TiVo the news.

Quinn hums noncommittally. "It looked fun from here," she says. "Had a good time saving damsels in distress?"

It's really unexpected to have Quinn throw that at her. "She was not a—okay, I guess she kind of was," Rachel admits. "But I didn't go in knowing that. Or because of that. I was just saving somebody our age who was in a dangerous situation."

"Right," Quinn says, "that's why she slipped you her number." Rachel's eyes widen. "You were on TV."

Okay, there is that. "Seriously? That's not even—she lives in _Tennessee_. I'll probably never see her again."

Quinn grimaces and leans over the kitchen table, drawing Rachel's eyes to her cleavage. Sometimes Rachel's really no better than a boy, but at least she looks back at Quinn's face the second Quinn coughs pointedly.

"You haven't talked to me in almost a month, Quinn," Rachel states. "Why do you even care so much?"

That's when Quinn snaps, standing up in a fit and gesturing emphatically with her hands, "Because I'm in love with you, you gigantic asshole."

Rachel is quite certain she must not look attractive gaping like this, but she can't get her jaw to function.

"I didn't mean to tell you like this," Quinn mutters into her collar.

Rachel chuckles. "That's why you're giving me the silent treatment?" She shakes her head in disbelief. "That doesn't make any sense."

Quinn raises her eyebrows. "Neither do you, most of the time."

"Is that what the whole college thing was about? You're just—in love with me," Rachel says, taking it in. "Wow."

"Yeah, 'wow'," Quinn echoes sardonically. "Excuse me if I don't want the person I'm in love with to go to freaking Juilliard _and_ be a stupid superhero _and_ audition for Broadway musicals at the same time. Obviously I'm some kind of freak for wanting to see your face without having to jump off a building or set my house on fire so you'll come save me."

Rachel must really be affected by going on her first solo mission, because she doesn't process Quinn leaving until she's well out the door.

*

Rachel flies to Quinn's dorm as soon as she's self-aware enough to avoid doing something stupid, like letting Quinn walk out on her again.

"Well, if it isn't Mrs. Damsel-in-Distress-from-Tennessee," Quinn snaps at her, rubbing her eyes. "How nice of you to show. At five in the morning on a workday."

"Look, Quinn," Rachel says, letting herself in despite Quinn's massive glower. "I have goals in life."

"Okay," Quinn spits, enunciating, "what's that supposed to mean?"

"Just—I'm too young to give my dreams up. I know _this_," Rachel says, gesturing around, meaning 'one single thing', and 'furthering your hero studies', and 'college in Nowhere, Ontario', and 'breaking out from under Countess Crusade's reputation as a villain', and 'going into politics once you've established yourself as an unmasked hero', "is what you've always wanted, but I'm not _you_. I'm not better or worse, I'm just not you. I like _you_. I _love_ you. I just—sometimes I need things spelled out for me, Quinn, so I can assure you that no matter where I am or how busy I am I'm still going to fly to see you whenever I want to, which is exasperatingly enough pretty much all the time, and I'm still going to make it sunny when you're sad, and I'm still going to try to make my business take me wherever you are for as long as you'll have me."

Quinn laughs. "Did you rehearse that?"

"Maybe," Rachel says. "A little bit. It was a pretty short—" _flight_, she means to add, but it's hard to get the word out with Quinn kissing her.

"I like," Quinn sighs, "I like how you sneaked in an I love you in the middle of that."

Rachel beams. This beats saving a girl in Tennessee by a mile. "Yeah, I thought that was pretty inspired too," and proceeds to reacquaint herself with all the things she's missed about Quinn during the time they were fighting.


End file.
